School Location

Latitude: 52.57940931886823 Longitude: -3.0905216932296753

About Chirbury CE VC Primary School

We are a small rural primary school situated on the Shropshire/Powys border. We have been following the lives of Monty and his family at the Dyfi Osprey Project for the last two years and have a thriving Osprey Club at the school. The children are keen to learn more about these amazing birds and have produced artwork and writing inspired by them.

What we would like to achieve

We are looking forward to linking up with WOW schools all over the world and learning more about ospreys and the places they visit, as we follow the adventures of the tracked birds on their spring migration.

About our local Ospreys

We are 35 miles from the Dyfi Osprey Project as the osprey flies and migrating ospreys have been seen in the area. In 2004 a pair of ospreys nested a few miles away from the school, just south of the market town of Welshpool, and produced one chick: the first to fledge from a Welsh nest in many hundreds of years. This chick is thought to be Monty, the resident male at the Dyfi.

One response to “Chirbury CE VC Primary School”

I first became aware of this school nearly two years ago when their teacher asked for some help, on an osprey Facebook page, as she felt that the hunger for osprey facts was outstripping her then knowledge.

I assured her that the osprey cyber community would always be willing to try to answer any queries that arise.

So began the most amazing symbiotic relationship. The children secure in the knowledge that their queries could be answered and the cyber community genuinely fascinated by the reports of what the kids had thought up most recently.

The most immediate way the kids expressed themselves was by drawing their favourite birds, Monty, Nora, Glesni, Ceulan, Clarach, Cerist, Gwynant and Deri. These drawings showed that they had learned to capture perspective. Some of the great masters would have been impressed.

I am led to believe that the children have invented their own osprey games. Those sound rather good.

When deciding what Christmas presents the ospreys might like they thought that Monty might like earplugs. I can see why Monty might appreciate those but be careful Glesni might resort to giving him a smack if she thinks he cannot hear.

It was timely that “Ospreys in Wales The First Ten Years” was published before Christmas and I understand that the kids have been fascinated by the book. Yet another example of how a passion for a subject can lead to educational development.

Now these same kids are part of WOW and I look forward to hearing how they respond to it.

Whatever happens the children at Chirbury should be very proud of their achievements so far and will no doubt add to them in the future.